


maybe the joke's on me

by lady-serendipity (JenZz)



Series: Jen's Officetober 2020 [1]
Category: Chinese Actor RPF, EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Fluff, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Tsunderes, West Coast Tech
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26750011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenZz/pseuds/lady-serendipity
Summary: Jongdae loves pulling pranks on Kris because his face looks stupid. That's it. Nothing more to it. Right?
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Wu Yi Fan | Kris
Series: Jen's Officetober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947871
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	maybe the joke's on me

**Author's Note:**

> I died a little when I rolled Kris and died a little more when I rolled Jongdae. Hopefully I do this justice. It turned out cute :3

Jongdae is universally loved by the office. He’s a bright bundle of sunshine and his laugh is one of the most iconic, cutting across the open office space like nothing else. The other project managers respect him for his work, and management likes his reports. It could be said that he doesn’t have many faults.

Except for one.

Three standing desks down, Kris screams as he flings a rubber object off his desk. Jongdae almost laughs out loud, but manages to hide under his desk and muffles his mirth into his palm. It’s his third prank on Kris this month and it’s only ten days into February. So far, 3 out of 3.

As soon as Jongdae gains control over his emotions, he straightens and walks over to Kris. Baekhyun is already next to Kris’s desk, hunched over with laughter as he picks up the object Kris so hastily threw away. “Oh,” he gasps, trying to form words again, “this is such a classic. Where’d you get it Jongdae?”

Jongdae widens his eyes in mock innocence. “Me?” he says, looking at the culprit: a rubber chocolate chip cookie with a fake plastic cockroach dangling from a string underneath. “I’d never do such a thing.”

Kris is doing his best to frown but he can’t help rolling his eyes. He looks constipated, and Jongdae smirks. It’s too funny. “Jongdae, you’re literally the worst. Can’t you let me live?” All too soon, the confusion fades out and Kris looks professional again. For some reason, Jongdae’s amusement just as quickly fades to irritation. With his neatly tucked, light pink collared shirt and dark wash jeans, Kris is effortlessly handsome on the worst of days and unbearable on the best. 

Now he’s unbearable. Shoving down his irrationally upset thoughts, Jongdae leans forward on Kris’s desk. “Don’t worry, you do your best to give my life hell. Are you finished with your deadlines?” 

“Almost. You know I always manage to get it done.” Kris is unbuttoning the top button of his shirt and god, Jongdae can’t look. 

He hastily backs away, muttering, “Whatever. C’mon, Baek, we’ve got a meeting to go to.” Baekhyun gives a hasty goodbye as Jongdae drags him away.

“We do _not_ have an urgent meeting and you know it,” Baekhyun says in an undertone when they’re safely out of Kris’s earshot and settling into one of the nooks near the snack bar. It’s their favorite place to chat and do work. “Why can’t you just confess like a normal person and move on with your life? I know he’s one of your engineers and all but it’s not like you report to the same person.”

“Hey! You don’t really believe that I have a crush on Kris, do you?” Jongdae asks, pulling out his laptop and setting it up, watching the network authentication go through. He misses the long-suffering eye roll Baekhyun gives him.

“Are you still in denial about that?” Baekhyun says, opening his own laptop and starting to reply to Slack messages. How Baekhyun multi-tasks is a wonder to Jongdae.

“There’s nothing to be in denial about, so no. Who would even like that guy?” Jongdae maneuvers to Outlook and opens a meeting invite. “Anyway, I’ve got a meeting. Talk to you in thirty. How much will you bet Junmyeon’s gonna tell Sehun to practice his leadership potential?”

“Three Starbucks drinks if Junmyeon says they’ll _whiteboard_ together later,” Baekhyun giggles and they dial into the same meeting.

A few hours later, Jongdae’s back at his desk typing on his laptop. His latest deck is a work of art, all corporate chic and Key Performance Indicators. He knows Minseok’s going to love it already. Opening his Outlook calendar again, Jongdae sighs. How is he going to top his latest prank? 

“Jongdae?” 

Jongdae startles, looking over his shoulder and relaxing when he sees it’s just Kris. “What’s up?”

“I need some more work. Got anything for me?”

Ugh. “I just gave you work, you’re done already?” Jongdae tries not to whine, because this is a good problem to have. Kris, when he’s not making dumb faces, is surprisingly one of his best software engineers. They make a match in heaven, getting work done and usually well ahead of schedule. 

Kris shrugs. “I can always go home early.”

Jongdae swivels around in his office chair and frantically pulls up his project management board. “No, no, I’m sure I’ve got something for you,” he murmurs, scrolling down. Jongdae misses Kris’s amused smile and the way Kris leans down to look at Jongdae’s screen. “Let’s see… how about ticket one-three-three-EEP!” Jongdae yelps when he notices how close Kris is. His spicy aftershave wafts in Jongdae’s nose, and yep, way too close. 

“Eep is a pretty interesting number,” Kris laughs and backs away. “Yeah, I can do that.”

Jongdae clears his throat, pretending he hadn’t flattened himself against the office chair. “Great. Good. You go um, do that.” When Kris stands there for a few more minutes, suddenly awkward, Jongdae blurts out, “Did you… have something else?”

“No, no, it’s nothing. Bye.”

Kris turns on his heels and walks away. Jongdae stares after him, bemused. _He’s never gonna get a girlfriend with that random awkwardness_ , Jongdae thinks. Then he lights up. _Of course. It’ll be the perfect prank._

✏️✏️✏️

Jongdae can hear people starting to gather at Kris’s desk. “He really… went for it,” Baekhyun says. That’s all he says, which is a testament to how brilliant Jongdae’s prank is. He has successfully silenced the ever chatty Byun Baekhyun.

Minseok starts to laugh so hard that tears come to his eyes. He whips out his phone. “I’ve got to record his reaction to this. It’s going to be great.”

Jongdae grins, trying to be nonchalant with his laptop open to some spreadsheet. He knows what Minseok, Baekhyun, and a few other people are watching right now.

Kris’s desk is decked out with hearts. Large and small, pink and red, paper and papier-mache, cover every surface of his previously uncluttered desk. Candy hearts stream out of his one corporate pencil cup and his other corporate mug. It’s actually quite sad that Kris’s desk lacked color besides his one sad attempt at art. Jongdae did him a favor by framing that “art” with hearts too.

His master plan means he’s done for the rest of February. Now Kris is going to think some poor chick in the office has the hots for him, and will be wracking his tiny brain for weeks on who it is.

Jongdae ignores the weird little pang in his heart, and sneaks a glance at Kris’s desk. It’d be any moment now. Kris is going to walk in and—

There he appears, holding a single rose. Jongdae’s heart sinks. Had he miscalculated? Had he fucked up very, very badly? All that effort he’d put in and Kris really is going to think it’s someone else. He grips his desk and forces himself to look at the laptop, opening a different slide deck at random.

“Well,” he hears from three desks away. “This is going to take forever to clean up.”

Jongdae stares determinedly at his computer. That’s the reaction he’d wanted, right? In a few minutes, he’d walk over and laugh it off. And then Kris would go confess to someone else and give them that rose. Yeah. Perfect.

“Jongdae?”

Spinning around, Jongdae is surprised to see Kris fumbling with the rose in his hand. “Do you, um, need more work?” Jongdae says stiffly, not sure what’s happening. He’s dimly aware that Minseok is still recording in the background.

“Jongdae, I’ve managed to figure out that you like me, and I like you too. Will you take this rose as a sign of my appreciation?” Kris almost drops the rose but manages to hand it to Jongdae. 

Dumbfounded, Jongdae takes it but yelps when one of the thorns prick his fingers. “Ouch, what the f—udge? What do you mean?”

“You’re as thorny as a rose but just as beautiful to me,” Kris says, reaching to pull him up from his chair. Their peanut gallery oohs and ahhs as Kris hugs Jongdae. Jongdae’s heart races as he’s clasped to the wall of muscle that is Kris. He shivers when Kris whispers in his ear, “Aren’t I special to you? Though you kinda deserve a prick after being a prick to me for a while.”

Jongdae shoves Kris back and punches him in the arm, wanting to die at how flushed and hot his cheeks feel. “Stop it, we’re at work, you—eep!” Jongdae yelps when Kris bends down further and picks him up, too fast for Jongdae to stop him. 

“Minseok, we’re both taking a sick day. See you Monday,” Kris says, Jongdae’s fists beating uselessly down on Kris’s back, and walks them both off, Jongdae screeching the whole time.

When they’re seated at the downstairs Peet’s Coffee, Jongdae crosses his arms. They sit in silence for a bit before Kris says, “Well, we’re not at work any more.” Jongdae sees Kris’s eyebrows furrow a bit before he sighs. “Can you… tell me that I’m not wrong? That you do like me? Otherwise, I’m sor—”

“I don’t…” Jongdae interrupts Kris and sees his face fall. Mentally kicking himself, Jongdae forces himself to finish his sentence. “I don’t hate you after all. There. You should only be upset if I’m pranking you.” 

When Kris unleashes the full power of his gummy smile on him, looking truly radiant, Jongdae flicks water into that stupid face to make sure Kris understands his place.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to a month-long challenge I'm calling Officetober! All things office!au, because I freaking miss going to the office and interacting with humans. I had Kinktober last year and am not really feeling it again, so this year it'll be something different. That's not to say it's going to be PG the whole time. ;) 
> 
> Kudos and comments always appreciated!! And you can yell at me on [Tumblr](http://lady-serendipity.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ladyyserendipit) <3!


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